ReVision: Zines and Collages

The purpose of this exhibit is to consider the use of collage in zines. Barnard College Library’s collection has been built to give voice to the subjects they discuss and their authors; in this case however, we reconsider them as visual objects. This catalog showcases several types of collage zinesters explore, using examples from Barnard's collection.

ReVisi n
Zines and Collage
Deconstructing my Hollywood dreams, Star Blue Zines B58c no.18
Presented by
2013
ReVisi n Zines and Collage
The purpose of curating this exhibit is to consider the use of collage in zines.
Barnardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s collection has been built to give voice to the subjects they discuss and
their authors; in this case however, we reconsider them as visual objects. A
significant number of zines are created with some kind of collage, be it traditional
or otherwise. Here we are looking at the later.
Collage is defined in many ways, but if we simply take the meaning from the
French coller, it means to stick or to glue onto a surface. Examples exist which
th
date as early as the 16 century. Long before its 1912 introduction into the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;fine
artâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; arena, collage was employed to combine disparate elements, most typically
paper. Arguably, it was done with regularity and acuity for centuries. Consider the
practice of scrapbooking, of paper
cutting, and memento mori -all of
which are still being created to this
day -but these were considered craft
not art. Once in the vocabulary of fine
art world, collage was very quickly
adopted as a practice by many. Much
of the work being done at this time
was in reaction to the socio-political
upheavals in Europe and flew in the
face of the canonical art practices.
The characteristics inherent to collage
offered an art form available to all,
essentially democratizing this formerly
elitist world. Use of collage as a
technique with this attitude was
employed in film, photography,
product
advertisements
and
propaganda. The mixing of art and
craft via collage helped to blur the line
between the two Western ideas to
such a degree that it has become part
of the lexicon of modern and
contemporary visual culture.
Chinese kitchen,
Elsie Sampson Zines S248c
Collage as fine art, and its much
longer history and practice in DIY applications bring us to a meeting ground in
the self-directed and motivated world of zines. As a platform for many a voice,
zines are a unique way to examine this versatile medium, technique and attitude.
Because zines are created outside the confines of editors - be they the author
themself, their communities or even the traditional publishing kind, the creators
can and do address each blank page as a gesamtkunstwerk. In zines, we are
treated to as much care in combining text and image as any painter or comic
artist would in their work, with the continued aesthetic of the handmade which
might be read as outsider or self-taught art.
Word,
Alison Laura Picard Zines P53w no.4
This exhibit will introduce text that has been collaged onto a decorative
background, collage as means to subvert original meaning, femmage, and zines
where the words themselves have been collaged. Zines are also an excellent
venue for more traditional collage artwork, and this exhibit highlights several
examples from the library’s collection.
After you read the zine in your hands with your mind’s eye, read them again
visually to see the interpretation of layers, of tactility, and of attitude. Please note
that any single image or spread shown is taken out of context, I highly suggest
you check out the zine and let the entire work speak for itself.
Enjoy – Katie Blake, 2013
Art collage
Zinesters working in collage but not necessarily with the task of managing its
relationship to text, often express a more 'fine art' aesthetic is expressed. These
works beckon; they push the boundaries of materiality, especially in a copy of a
reproduction. Torn edges and physical layering for example, remind us what we
hold in our hands was once made by another's.
I married a
transsexual,
Karen Doucet Zines
D68i
This is the front
cover of a ribbonbound zine. The
collage is made of
photographs,
watercolor, and
found papers.
Though the addition
of ribbon does not
automatically make
this a femmage, it
certainly adds an
element of gender
consideration to the
zineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall look as
well as subject.
This heavily collaged
zine tells the story of
a 39-year-old woman
and her transsexual
girlfriend, whom she
met when he was a
man, and their life
together. The zine
deconstructs the
issues of being in a relationship with a transsexual person including sexual,
social, and emotional.
Art collage
Loverution,
Jenna Renegade Zines R464r
An example of art collage, this back cover is interesting because it is playful
with both image and text. There is not a specific term for when an artist
chooses to expose a torn edge as opposed to a cut edge. The juxtaposition
between the two here conveys a sense movement and emphasis. Textually,
the quote is meant to be read easily in comparison to the â&#x20AC;&#x153;Loveâ&#x20AC;? cloud made
of a visual jumble. Whether this is meant to be read as if a poem is uncertain,
but because at its center is a perfectly horizontal word, the implication is that
we try and read the others in a sort of pinwheel fashion.
This cut and paste zine includes DIY instructions, stories of being a queer
woman, poems, and motivational instructions for life. Jenna Renegade writes
about distrusting the education system, appreciating life in the small
moments, and learning from everyday experience.
See Also:
I am not the rain, Amber Green Zines G74463
Licking stars off ceilings, Clementine Cannibal Zines C2661no.19
I married a transsexual, Karen Doucet Zines D68i
Greenwoman, Sandra Knauf Zines K638
Partners in crime, Jordan Zines J67p
Loverution, Jenna Renegade Zines R464r
Text 窶田ollaged
Probably the easiest
way to describe what is
meant when referring to
"text collaged" is where
the author-creator has
taken a standardized
word and changed it
slightly; this could be by
physical cutting and
pasting, but more often
in zines is seen by
changing just a letter or
two towards a particular
purpose.
ex: Cuntrol vs. Control.
The wicked which,
The original word is still
Izz Zines I9w
recognized, but the
minor edit has subverted that meaning. Sometimes this is to wrest control from
indoctrinated terms such as changing Women to Womyn.
The change could be from wanting the
word to effect sound or imply a desired
pronunciation emphasis -even attitude
such as Grrrl vs. Girl (also: gal, gol, goil,
geol, gyurl, gurral, girrel, gurl).
Other examples include: Idiosyncrasy
(by Cherry Thomas);
(m)other (by Lamesha Melton);
yella (from BananaQ);
wmngrl (Guerita #1);
and U$A (Fucktooth #9).
There are several Barnard Alumnae who
use text -collaged to emphasize meaning
or attitude (Rachel Blau DuPlessis,
Loolwa Khazzoom, and Ntozake
Shange). Like poet e.e. Cummings this is
done via capitalization, italics and space
design of the text.
Girl noire,
Kimberly Schwenk (Riot)
Zines S348g
Text –collaged
Clitical mass, Adalusia Zines C72
Shown here is the front cover of this zine; two
colors on pink paper. The image is created
xerographically and the title text in blue is
letterpress printed. Andalusia has taken the
word Critical and collaged it with the word Clit
to play on the expression and, a particular
ongoing bicycling event called Critical Mass.
In her own words, “-i got the idea for Clitical
Mass about two years ago when i made a flier
for critical mass and the r fell off leaving citical
mass. this made me think of clitical which i
told my friend about.
he immediately replied “that’s fucked up how
would you feel if I organized Penis Mass” I
said it’s penis mass every day of the fucking
week so you wouldn’t even have to organize it.” The author has given us a
decisive textual collage as a starting point when considering other examples
in the zine collection.
This zine includes women's experiences with sexism and biking. There are
articles about riding in Critical Mass, the trials and tribulations of a New York
City bike messenger and those of a bike mechanic, and Bike Circus.
See Also:
The rapes in the third person to be
read deadpan, Astrogirl Zines A77t
Race riot, Mimi Thi Nguyen
Zines N584r
One girl revolution, Jolie Nuñez
Noggle Zines N86o
Jnk/fd, Judy Moses Zines J84f
One girl revolution,
Jolie Nuñez Noggle Zines N86o
Femmage
This term, femmage was coined by artist and feminist Miriam Shapiro in the late
1970s. Shapiro discusses the genderization of art in her essay, Waste Not Want
Not: An Inquiry into What Women Saved and Assembled - FEMMAGE (written
with Melissa Meyer, 1977-78).
Shapiro and Meyer define other forms of collage such as photomontage and
assemblage, but the important addition is their delineation of femmage. They go
on to explain the epitome of a femmage and set parameters under which other
works might be categorized by this designation using fourteen factors.
Shapiro and Meyer make certain that they have cast the definition widely by
noting that, "Not all of them [the 14 factors] appear in a single object. However,
the presence of at least half of them should-," to be considered femmage.
From this, one could make an argument that all the work done in the Barnard
zine collection is femmage.
For this exhibit, the pieces highlighted were chosen because they reference the
materials and work historically assigned to womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roles in domestic spheres
such as embroidery, quilting, appliquĂŠ and cooking.
How fucking romantic, Shira Mario
Zines M3756h no.2
Femmage
Elsie, dear, you musn't miss me too much,
grandmother say to Elsie,
Elsie Sampson Zines S248e
This front cover is one of many femmages by this author. In addition to the
usual collage elements seen, Sampsonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s work also references the subjects
of her zines such as cooking and sewing; the same materials and work
Shapiro and Meyer noted are historically assigned to womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s roles and
very much signifiers of femmage. An elegant design, the sewn background
creates a physical and visual chain between the Elsie and her grandmother
as well as foreshadows the subject of the elder woman's work.
This mini-zine is a small, colorful tribute to Elsie's Chinese grandmother, a
sweatshop worker who raised the author until she was five.
Femmage
Photocopying makes my legs wobbly,
Kathleen Henwood Zines H45p no.5
See Also:
Chinese kitchen, Elsie Sampson Zines S248c
Wild at heart, Shelby Schoensee Zines S36w
Indulgence, Eleanor Whitney Zines W44i no.6
Bats in the bridge: and other batty tidbits, Niku Arbabi Zines A733b
Text pasted onto
decorative background
The distinction between craft and fine art in
terms of a zine or artists book is nearly
meaningless. Zines though, are much more
likely to be xerographically reproductions from
a single original.
Mala,
Bianca Ortiz Zines O78m no.1
Alison Piepmeier discusses the materiality and
handmade aesthetic that permeates them in
her article, Why zines matter: materiality and
the creation of embodied community. She
points out that a subject is all the more
personalized by a hand held object, especially
when it is very obviously a visual reflection of
the author. Most zinesters want to relay this
do-it-yourself look, but must also contend with
the characteristics inherent to reproduction.
They must choose to embrace or simply ignore that the 'photo' copy captures
everything from crinkled paper, scratches in the glass, to shadows. This
appearance can be visually arresting in the reading -adding nuance, emphasis to
subject in a way that typical text on page cannot.
One of the more often seen types of collage is where the author-creator has
written something, printed it, cut it apart and glued it onto another image or page.
By adding what seems to be unnecessary steps to the completion of a written
work suggests that there is a pointed desire for a visual means to make the
word(s) tactile. Every page registers as different from the hyper-tidiness typical of
industry-printed text where the black font sits statically on a plain, white
background. This practice may also come out of a craving for visual pauses
between pages, between thoughts, etc. Such elements and the retained
character of the handmade differentiates these works from, "magazines and
other mainstream publications-," which is an important part of the zine
community. The practice of collage for these reasons both decorates and
distinguishes the zine overall from commercial counterparts.
See Also:
Adorn, Suzanne Bree Zines B74a
What I saw from where I stood, Eva Louise Zines L6857w
Partners in crime, Jordan Zines J67p
Manquer: an accordion book, Katy Weselcouch Zines W474m
Brainscan, Alex Wrekk Zines W746 no.13
Distortia, Niatni Zines N536d
Text pasted onto decorative background
Skinned heart,
Nyky Gomez Zines N665 no.1
Here is an interior page from Gomezâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s zine, where she has pasted her text
onto a background one could call decorative or illustrative. Here the visual
combination of horizontal text with a linear, vertical background (a strung
loom) is as powerful a representation of her jarring frustrations with race
and privilege as the text itself. By layering the image with the text instead
of separating them, the words become part of the entire visual story; the
restlessness of being able to â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;read between the linesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; forces us to see the
words as if woven into the loom.
In this hand- and typewritten and magazine collage illustrated perzine, 29year-old Nyky writes about being sexually assaulted as a child and her
frustration with issues of race and privilege. Nyky also writes about bipolar
disorder and natural treatments, being questioned on the "authenticity" of
her Mexican identity, and the troubling racial attitudes she encounters
among those who are supposed to be her allies.
Text pasted onto decorative background
Angry black-white girl,
Nia King Zines K565on
In this example, King has not only printed out, cut and pasted text; she has
used it to frame and split a central image. Over the top of this are also hand
written reactions to what maybe personal experiences for the author or a
reaction to the excerpted words (-cited here as being from â&#x20AC;&#x153;Effegiesâ&#x20AC;? by
Lucinda Roy). The selection is compelling in and of itself, but by combining
the words with the image, through it and around it she drives the reader to
follow all three elements of thought. Reading this takes time, and through
King's directional text we are being asked to follow the words; such
contemplation elicits a kind of empathy more traditional displays of this
excerpt and image could not.
Nia King, an art school dropout of African-American, Hungarian Jewish, and
Lebanese ancestry writes about living, working, and activism as a mixed race
queer in a wealthy Boston suburb. She debunks stereotypes with short
essays about her family and her personal history.
Collage to subvert
It is possible the impulse to make subversive collages comes from the fact that
many of them are created from found images. Artists like Jaune Quick-To-See
Smith and Gee Vaucher make profound statements in their work regarding
subjects like race and gender images used for the sale of products. Such work is
most often seen with advertisements, an example is W.M. Disaster's zine,
Touched by an anvil (Zines B835t), where a seemingly happy little girl is collaged
into a collection of fragmented statements about "what little girls are REALLY
made of." In addition to product images, zinesters respond to ideas and articles
they wish to discuss and react to with their community. Annie Koh's For motion
discomfort collages together a memory of hers about learning English and being
taught how and why to use products to apparently 'fit' into her new culture.
For motion discomfort,
Annie Koh Zines K64f
Chica loca, Lala Endara
Zines H45p no.2
This interior is an excellent
example of collage to subvert.
Lala uses an advertisement by
Calvin Klein, having turned it into
a personals ad, the reaction
seems to be specifically about the
women featured surrounding the
bottle. The collage subverts the
logo to read Chico|one|en over the
CK. It is unclear whether this is a
play on the words chica and
chicano.
In this issue, Lala focuses political
topics including miscegenation
and immigration rights for gay and
lesbian couples. The author, a
native of Ecuador, provides some
Spanish language content and
lesbian sex illustrations.
Collage to subvert
Chica loca
Lala Endara Zines H45p no.5
Another subversive collage by Endara, here it is used to react to a
particular disparaging article and ideology. By doing this, she not
only brings attention to a degrading article published in FHM but
takes back some measure of control by subverting the offending
words into her reply.
See Also:
Muchacha, Daisy Salinas Zines S2556m no.4
Woman and violence, Zines W65 no.2
Cherry Bomb, Julie Klukas Zines K4853c no.1
Twizzler: candy for grrrls, Tamara Zines T36 no.1
Touched by an anvil, W.M. Disaster Bucket Zines B835t
Barnard Library References:
•
Piepmeier, Alison. Why zines matter: materiality and the creation of
embodied community. American Periodicals, vol.18, no.2(2008).
•
Jones, Melissa L. Barnard zine library zine. Zines Z49b
•
Harris, Anita. gURL Scenes and Grrrl Zines: The Regulation and
Resistance of Girls in Late Modernity. Feminist Review, no.75
Identities(2003):pp 38-56.
•
Lauter, Estella. 1984. Women as mythmakers: poetry and visual art by
twentieth-century women. Indiana University Press.
•
Graver, David. 1995. The aesthetics of disturbance: anti-art in avantgarde drama. The University of Michigan Press.
•
Taylor, Brandon. Collage: the making of modern art.
•
Waldman, Diane. Collage, assemblage, and the found object.
•
Wolfram, Eddie. History of collage: an anthology of collage, assemblage
and event structures.
•
Gelfant, Blanche H. Women writing in America: voices in collage.
•
Harding, James Martin. Cutting performances: collage events, feminist
artists and the American avant-garde.
Barnard College Library
library.barnard.edu
Barnard Zine Library
zines.barnard.edu
ReVision installation photo, Barnard College Library
Thanks to Jenna Freedman for giving me the opportunity to work
with Barnard in the Zine collection.
Thanks also to Juliana Strawn (BC ’14), who so kindly took time to help me
find many examples I would not have otherwise.